Pork, Roast Leg of
INGREDIENTS. Leg of pork, a little oil, sage-andonion stuffing. AVERAGE COST, 8d. per lb.
Choose a small leg of pork, and score the skin across in narrow strips, about 1/4 inch apart. Cut a slit in the knuckle, loosen the skin, and fill it with sage-andonion stuffing. Brush the joint over with a little salad-oil (this makes the crackling crisper, and a better colour), and put it down to a bright, clear fire, not too near, as that would cause the skin to blister.
Baste it well, and serve with a little gravy ROAST LEG OF PORK. made in the dripping-pan, and do not omit to send to table with it a tureen of wellmade apple-sauce. TIME. A leg of pork weighing 8 lbs., about 3 hours.
SEASONABLE from September to March.
Pork, Leg of, To Carve. This joint, which is such a favourite one with many people, is easy to carve. The knife should be carried sharply down to the bone, clean through the crackling, in the direction of the line A to B. Sage-andonion and apple-sauce are usually sent to table with this dish-sometimes the leg of pork is stuffed-and the guests should be LEG OF PORK. asked if they will have either or both. A frequent plan, and we think a good one, is now pursued, of sending sage-and-onion to table separately from the joint, as it is not everybody to whom the flavour of this stuffing is agreeable.
PORK, LOIN OF.
The method assumes an open fire and a dripping-pan; the joint itself translates directly to a modern oven, with one change of substance — the target is now internal temperature rather than minutes per pound.
- Fire to ovenA "bright, clear fire, not too near" has no exact oven equivalent; one workable modern approach is a hot start of about 425F for the first 20-30 minutes to set the crackling, then 350F for the remainder. The warning about blistering concerns proximity to radiant heat, which an oven rack set in the middle avoids.
- Doneness, not clockThree hours for 8 lb is roughly 22 minutes per pound, which is still a reasonable estimate, but cook to 145F at the thickest part away from the bone, then rest 20-30 minutes. The book gives times rather than temperatures; later advice to cook fresh pork much harder, out of fear of trichinosis, is no longer necessary and produces dry meat.
- Salad-oilSimply a neutral edible oil — olive or another table oil, not a dressing. Any high-smoke-point oil does the job, and a scattering of salt rubbed into the scored skin helps it crisp further.
- Scoring the skinCut through the rind and into the fat but stop short of the meat, at quarter-inch intervals as directed. If the crackling has not puffed by the end, remove the joint, rest it, and return the skin alone to a 450F oven for a few minutes.
- Stuffing under the skinThe slit at the knuckle and the loosened skin form a pocket. Sage-and-onion stuffing packed there will not reach a safe temperature as reliably as the meat around it, so check it registers 165F, or follow the carving note on this same page, which recommends sending the sage-and-onion to table separately from the joint.
- Gravy from the dripping-panPork drippings are abundant and heavy; pour most off, then deglaze the pan with stock or cider and reduce. "A little gravy" is the period preference — the joint is not meant to be sauced heavily, since the apple sauce does that work.
- Seasonable, and whySeptember to March reflects the pre-refrigeration pig-killing season: cold weather, and the autumn glut of windfall apples and orchard waste for feed. It has no bearing on when you can buy a leg of pork now, though it explains the apple sauce.
- YieldAn 8 lb leg on the bone serves roughly 10-12, with leftovers worth having cold. Butchers now often sell the leg divided into fillet and knuckle ends; ask for the skin left on and unscored so you can score it yourself.
- The cost line8d. per lb is Victorian retail pricing and is included in the original as a housekeeping guide. It is of historical interest only.
Roast leg of pork with sage-and-onion stuffing and apple sauce is one of the most fixed pairings in English cookery, and Beeton treats it as settled practice rather than something needing argument. Both accompaniments are usually explained as correctives to a fatty meat he acrichness of apples cutting the richness, the resinous bitterness of sage doing similar work he resinous bitterness of sage doing similar work he sage was among the commonest kitchen-garden herbs in Britain, cheap and available fresh most of the year. The carving note is characteristic of the book: it goes well beyond cooking into the mechanics of serving, with lettered diagrams showing where to put the knife, aimed at households where the master of the table carved in front of guests and could not afford to fumble. The aside that sage-and-onion should be sent up separately "as it is not everybody to whom the flavour of this stuffing is agreeable" is a small window on Victorian dining, where the appearance of choice was becoming part of good hosting.